- Complete Monster: Joe Burkett is Maya Stern's husband who is secretly a vicious psychopath who had a taste for murder since adolescence. When he was a teenager, he killed Theo Mora through alcohol poisoning out of envy. A few months later, when his brother Andrew wanted to confess what they had done, Joe secretly murdered his own brother on their yacht, paying off the yacht captain, Tommy Dark, to cover it up as a suicide. In present day, Joe is an executive of Burkett Global Enterprises and member of the Burkett family who has had oversight in the corportation's malpractice of selling their potentially lethal medicines for profit, knowingly getting millions of people killed or seriously impaired. When people, including Maya's sister Claire, start to uncover the Burketts' crimes, Joe breaks into Claire's house and violently kills her before killing Tommy Dark by slashing his throat and locking him in a freezer, attempting to frame Maya for Dark's death. When Maya confronts him about his crimes, Joe attempts to kill her too before gloating that she'll never prove his murder of Claire.
What's the work?
Fool Me Once is a recent 2024 Netflix mystery thriller series created by Harlan Coben, starring Michelle Keegan, Richard Armitage, and Joanna Lumley.
It follows Maya Stern, who is grieving from the recent murders of her sister, Claire Walker, and her husband, Joe Burkett. However, soon after Joe's funeral, when she looks on her house's nanny cam that she uses to watch her daughter, she sees the deceased Joe in her house. Meanwhile, DS Sami Kierce is on the case of Joe's murder, and Maya's nephew and niece, Abby and Daniel, are trying to find clues about their mum's death. Obviously, mystery and murder ensues.
For the candidate of this tv series, lets just say he ain't nowhere near your average joe.
Who is Joe Burkett and what does he do?
Joe Burkett is Maya Stern's husband and the eldest son of the Burkett Family, as well as an executive of Burkett Global Entreprises. However, he was apparently shot to death in a robbery gone wrong in front of his wife, who cradled his dead body in her arms while crying her eyes out. Thus, the rest of the series is spent looking into his death, as well as the death of Claire Walker, Maya's sister. However, as the series progresses, we discover the true culprit behind Joe Burkett's death: Maya Stern! BWA BWA BWAAA! However, we also learn who Joe really was in his life, and the answers we get for him are not very comforting at all. Now given how this show is set up and its many flashbacks, I will describe Joe's life and his crimes in a chronological order not of how the story reveals, but how they actually happened.
For backstory,
Any redeeming qualities? Freudian Excuse?
None. He doesn't care for anyone but himself. He killed his classmate, his brother, his wife's sister, a yacht captain, and attempted to murder his own wife. He even gloats about his crimes when he is caught. His relationship with the rest of the Burketts isn't shown, and given he already murdered his own brother and kept it a secret from the rest of the family as a suicide, its likely he didn't care for them as well as his wife and daughter, given how quick he was to try and frame his wife for his murder of Tommy Dark and trying to murder her when she found out about his crimes.
Is he heinous enough?
Now on his own, he has 4 murders, 3 of which are pretty brutal, including basically drowning and poisoning someone with alcohol, breaking into someone's house just to violently murder them, and slashing someones throat and locking them in a freezer. That's bad, but not only that, but he has also had oversight in the company's practice of manufacturing highly addictive medication but also falsifying the reports of the side effects, knowingly selling said potentially lethal medicines and killing people who used them all over the world, especially children. While his mother is the head of the company, Joe is practically second-in-command, and I think he stacks up pretty well compared to her with his additional direct murders, including one of his own brother.
Conclusion?
I'd say an easy keep. What do y'all think?
- Complete Monster: Sergio De Luca is an arms dealer and businessman for terrorists who has associated with Rayna Boyanov to sell a nuclear bomb to Solsa Dudaev and his men. Realizing the CIA caught onto his schemes, De Luca had his right-hand Nicola burn down his office in Paris and trick CIA agent Rick Ford into unknowingly setting a bomb off in Paris to frame the CIA of such an act, which would've killed countless people at a concert had CIA agent Susan Cooper not stopped it. When finally meeting Rayna and Dudaev for the bid on the nuclear weapon, De Luca betrays them and murders Dudaev and his men and reveals he intends to sell the bomb to another buyer for $500 million euros, knowing they will detonate it in New York City, which would kill millions of people. He then attempts to kill Rayna, Fine, Ford, and Cooper before trying to escape.
What's the work?
Spy is a 2015 spy action comedy starring Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, and Jason Statham, amongst others. It follows McCarthy as CIA analyst Susan Cooper who works with agent Bradley Fine (Law), whom she admires, in the CIA, alongside their particularly vulgar and macho co-agent Rick Ford (Statham. However, when Fine is killed by Bulgarian-British weapons dealer Rayna Boyanov, Cooper takes it on herself to become a true agent by bringing down Rayna for Fine.
As for our candidate, suprisingly, Rayna seems to love her father and mother and becomes a friendly enemy to Cooper at the end. However, there is someone else to consider...
Who is Sergio De Luca and what does he do?
Sergio De Luca is introduced as a arms dealer and business middleman for terrorists, being associated with several terrorists and terror cells, most recently Rayna Boyanov.
Any redeeming qualities? Freudian Excuse?
None. While he is charismatic, this clearly his shade of Faux Affably Evil as he quickly drops it once he betrays everyone, even dropping it when he wanted to have Cooper and Fine killed but only kept them around because Cooper convinced him he needed them. While the film is a comedy, De Luca doesn't really have any comedic moments but is really just charismatic. While his fate is a bit laughable as his last words to Cooper are "this is the ugliest fucking necklace I've ever seen!", he says this while he is trying to choke Cooper to death with said necklace after already being shot, so its really more Laughably Evil than anything else.
Is he heinous enough?
I think he passes. He kills several people, attempts to kill dozens to hundreds of innocents in a public bombing, and attempts to have millions killed with a nuclear bomb that he knows would be used in the middle of New York City.
Conclusion?
Was on the fence for a while, but overall, I'd say he's a moderate yes. What do y'all think?
- Complete Monster: Knox is a violent psychopath who cashes out his viciousness as a mercenary-for-hire. Introduced setting a crowded marketplace in Italy on fire, while nude, just to steal a suit he likes, Knox is hired by Gerald Brandt to kill a bouncer in Miami named Elwood Dalton who is interfering with his son Ben's plans to destroy the Road House. Glad to take on the job, Knox enters the Road House and causes absolute havoc by beating several people with a golf club and brutalizing Dalton, causing an all-out bar fight that injures dozens, including Ben's henchmen. Repeatedly hunting Dalton down, Knox crashes into the Road House with a car he stole, Knox beats and stabs Dalton to near-death, even killing Ben Brandt when he becomes an annoyance before Dalton is able to seemingly kill Knox. However, in a mid-credit scene, it is revealed that Knox survived and escapes a hospital by brutally beating several members of the staff.
What's the work?
Who is Knox and what does he do?
Any redeeming qualities? Freudian Excuse?
Is he heinous enough?
Conclusion?
Was on the fence for a while, but overall, I'd say he's a moderate yes. What do y'all think?
What's the work?
Who is Owen Paddock and what does he do?
Any redeeming qualities? Freudian Excuse?
Is he heinous enough?
Conclusion?
Was on the fence for a while, but overall, I'd say he's a moderate yes. What do y'all think?
